6.031
6.031 — Software Construction
Fall 2019

Nanoquiz Grading and Makeup

Nanoquiz Grading

Nanoquizzes consist of multiple-choice, true/false, matching, and/or short answer questions.

For multiple choice questions, each option is worth one point. If you correctly choose the answer when it’s right, then you get one point. If you correctly don’t choose the answer when it’s wrong, then you get one point. This scheme applies uniformly to choose-all-good-answers and choose-one-best-answer questions.

  • Consider a choose-all-good-answers question with choices A,B,C,D, of which only C and D are correct. If you answer C,D then you get 4 points. If you answer A,C then you get 2 points (since you were wrong about A, right about B, right about C, and wrong about D). If you answer A,B then you get 0 points.
  • Consider a choose-one-best-answer question with choices A,B,C of which only C is correct. If you answer C, then you get 3 points. If you answer A, then you get 1 point (since you were wrong about A, wrong about C, but right about B).

The point value for true/false, matching, and short answer questions is determined by the staff. It is up to staff discretion.

Your total score for a quiz will be scaled to be out of 10 points.

Nanoquiz Makeup

We automatically drop the lowest 5 nanoquiz grades. If you’re dissatisfied with any of your nanoquiz grades, however, you can earn back some of the lost points for that quiz by doing a nanoquiz makeup. A makeup involves answering a few new questions related to the topic of the nanoquiz (which are chosen randomly from a pool), and writing your own original nanoquiz question for the topic.

Be sure you do a makeup for the right class. Nanoquizzes are numbered by the class meetings when they were held. If you don’t like your grade for Nanoquiz 2, then you should be offering a makeup related to Class 2.

Writing a good makeup question can earn back 1/2 of the lost points on the nanoquiz. For example, if you took the nanoquiz and got 6/10, then an excellent makeup question brings your grade up to 8/10. If you missed a nanoquiz entirely and got a 0/10, then a makeup can raise it to at most 5/10. Makeup questions that don’t follow the directions or show little effort will earn no makeup credit.

The deadline for making up a nanoquiz is one week (7 × 24 hours) after that nanoquiz’s grades are posted. Makeups may not be revised or resubmitted. Only one submission per nanoquiz will be considered.

Makeup submissions are reviewed regularly, but at low priority, by different people, and not necessarily in order of submission. You will probably receive an email within a couple weeks about whether your makeup was accepted, but it may take longer. You may hear back about a makeup you submitted a few days ago before you hear about one you submitted weeks ago. After a makeup is accepted, your nanoquiz grade will probably be updated within a couple weeks, but it may take longer.

Submitting a Makeup

Submit your makeup on the nanoquiz makeup submission form.

Accepted makeup questions may be used anonymously as ungraded review or makeup material in this or future semesters.

You must write your original question in a format based on Markdown. Here’s everything you’re likely to need:

Your input:

Pretty output:

Here is the text of my question. Use backquotes
for `code` style, for example to talk about
`String` or `someVariableName`.

For multi-line code, indent each line 4 spaces:

    while (true) {
        b = a * b;
    }

How should we format the answer choices?

[ ] Incorrect choices have an empty box of
    square brackets
[x] Correct choices have a box with an "x"
[x] You can write a choose-one or choose-all
    question

> Write the answer explanation on lines
> starting with ">".
>
> Be sure to explain why each option is correct
> or incorrect.

Here is the text of my question. Use backquotes for code style, for example to talk about String or someVariableName.

For multi-line code, indent each line 4 spaces:

while (true) {
    b = a * b;
}

How should we format the answer choices?

Write the answer explanation on lines starting with “>”.

Be sure to explain why each option is correct or incorrect.